Feed mechanism



May l2, 1953 M. FAlRi-:ST 2,538,201

FEED MECHANISM Filed April 18, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l F/GJ.

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A ttorn eys May l2, 1953 Filed April 18, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedMay 12, 1953 FEED'MECHANISM I'Morgan iFiairest, LSHeieId, England,assignor to MrganYEairestlIimitecl,lfShfelcl,England 'Applicationaprirla, issifseiarm. 221571 .in "Great Britain July ll, 1950 Claims.

'This "invention urelates "tov lf-eed mechanisms for generallycylindricalfarticlessuchas bottles,c`ans,

and phials requiring toi-be fed `upright in succession, as for example,in lfilling,capping, labelling,

vand 'similar operations. A@nce the articles have ibeen 4brought `into,a ysuccession, the special -feed mechanism 'used for the operation`proper -rnain- -tains the `:frate lof deed `in -synchronism with theloperational step orstepS, "but the -placingo the articles in thatpreliminarysuccession frequently `calls for individual handling fofleach article and constant `attention 4by an operative for this purpose.

An object of the invention is Etoen'alole-a `batch ci articles tobeautomatically-brought into a suc- `cession and fed yforward as such toenable the required operationito be performed on thesindividual-articles in turn. i

According to the present invention, 'a feed mechanism 'i or i generallycylindrical'articles comprises a rotary table of ^va -siz'e 'suicientTora large number 'of 'articles to he 4placed 'upright on it, a `raised*border 'round 4the "table, an outlet opening in the `lborder,vaneniiless band lmovable parallel Vto `the surface of "the "table witha `run 'of `the band `movable ytowards `the "border 'to a. 'position inadvance ci 'the outlet opening, lthe Vband being diverted *near theborder 'to leave 'afgapwide enough for the passage of at leastoneartic'le 4ineens -to `divert `through the outlet opening articlesr'that have Abeen fed 'to the jgap bythe 'jointactionof the rotary tableand the .movable band.

The peripheral urate of rotation "of 'thetalole and the 'width of thegap vare-set -so as 'to'fee'd .at `'least as `many articles ascan beforwarded bytlie sp'ecial feed mechanism for the `subse'quel'itoperation. By suitableadjustment "of At'heu'at'e o`f rotation of thefeedtableandof'thewidthofthe gap, it is usually possible Yto forwardarticles from the table exactly at the rate required for the subsequentoperation. In general, 'it is convenient to pass the articles throughthe outlet opening in a single `row with the articles'close to eachotherready to beforwarded singlypthat is, in'suitable order to vbe `forwardedsingly to the subsequent operation.

The endless band may be driven independently o1 the table at any desiredspeed, "but it is convenient to drive it by a `pulley securedcca-axially above the table, .and .although -the band-'then necessarilymoves-ata speed `less ithan theperipheral speed of the table, it assistsin keeping a now of articles moving towards the gap. As the band divertsthe articles towards the periphery of thetable the angularspeedof'thearticles tends to increase, 'until 1they passthrough the gap4at the-peripheral speedfofthe table. n

Near tl-tragap, the band passes over one or incre guide pulleys, thesize, shape, or position of which may be adjusted `to give arsrnoothleadu iinJto *the-gap. Preferably, twosrnall pulleys are 'usedto `provide between `thern 'a straight run, this run being adjustablefor width .and angle width'of `the gap `and/or its position `in relationytothe outlet.

One embodiment ofthe invention will now`fbe described with reference "tothe accompanying 4'dravvings, in `which fFigure l is alpart-sectionalfront elevation of the feed mechanism;

VFigurez is `a side elevation o'f the upper part Figure 3 is aplanviewAof Figure `1t Referring to Figure 1,a circular "feed Vtable l iscarried bya horizontal gear'eleinent 2 and is secured 1toitby screws 3,the gear "2 being rotatable `about fixed vertical `spindle d rigidlysecured to abushing lby-screws t'passing through afiange l at the lowerend ofthe spindle. The bushing i5 hasaiianget secureclby screwsto thetop plate il@ cof `a housing H, the housing itself beingfmountedcnapillar l2 'which rests on a-base plate I3 provided withadjusting screws l'fi. The lower `face of the 'gear 2 bears agansttheupper surface of the liangetand has a cylindrical extension l whichYfreelysurroundsthe lxedspindle t and is located Awithin the bore of thebushing 5.

A'd'cvvnwardly extending bracket It `fori-ned on thetopplate 'ltcarriesaworm gear box I 'l within the housing I'lyand the verticaloutput shaft I8 ofithe gear box carries a gear is which mesheswiththegear f2. As shown in Figures VZand 3, the gearboxjlil'"isfdriven, via `a shaft ft and universal jdintsZlfby-an extensionon a 'shaft "22 carrying a sprocket'EZi supporting thedriven end of aconveyor run '12%. The conveyor 2t which is fon a level with thelfeedtable l is driven inthe direction of 'thearrow from .the 4other-end ofits Vrun through Athe .subsequent .labelling or other machine A(notshowin) to which `the articles are to be fed, the sprocket 23 beingdriven by the-actual movementioi the conveyor `itself. 4

As shown most clearly in Figure l, a pulley 25 is secured by the screws.t co-axially to the upper surface of the feed table I and is thusrotatable with it. An endless rubber band 26 is driven parallel to thesurface of the feed table I by the pulley and passes round two smallerpulleys 21 carried at the end of an arm 26 adjustably secured by a nut29 to an extension 30 of the fixed spindle 4. The pulleys 21 are bothsimultaneously adjustable in a radial direction along the arm 28 by theslotted connection 3l (Figure 3) to vary the approach of the straightrun of the band between the pulleys towards the border, and both may beseparately adjusted for angle by the pivoted links 32. The arm 28 may beadjusted about the axis of the table I by means of the nut 28.

A stationary raised border 33 is xed above the upper surface of the feedtable I in linewith its periphery, and extends at 34 to form a guidelying over the conveyor 24. A further guide 35, lying over the conveyorparallel to the extension 34, forms an outlet opening 36 for thecylindrical articles 31 fed from the table I.

In operation, with the conveyor 24 moving in the direction shown by thearrow, the drive from the sprocket shaft 22 (through the shaft 20,worm-gear I1, and gears I9 and 2), rotates the feed'table I and pulley25 together, and articles placed on the table I are rotated with ituntil they accumulate against the side of the rubber band 26 as shown inFigure 3. 'Ihe gap between the portion 38 of the band 26 and theadjacent part of the border 33 is adjusted according to thediameter ofthe articles 31 by the radial adjustment of the arm 28, to allow asuccession of articles 31 to be fed singly through the passage 38 on tothe conveyor. The pulleys 21 may also be adjusted for angle, to make thewidth of the gap uniformly of the diameter of the articles (as shown) ortapered if desired.

The band 26 moves around the pulleys 25 and 21 according to theperipheral speed of the pulley 25 and continuously urges the articles 31towards the gap, the resilience of the band 28 allowing the articles toaccumulate before the gap without jamming or wedging against the border33. The band may be suiciently resilient to be pressed inwards (asshown) under the pressure of the accumulated articles. The movement ofthe band 20 sets up a slight rotary movement through the accumulatedarticles 31 and prevents individual articles from adhering together. Theband diverts articles initially disposed near the centre of the table Itowards the periphery, until they pass through the gap at the peripheralspeed of the table I.

To reduce the friction of the articles 31 moving along the border 33,particularly when they are of small diameter, the inner surface of theborder may be provided with a narrow rib 38 against which the sides ofthe articles contact, as shown in Figures 1 and 2 (but omitted fromFigure 3) with such a rib, phials as small as lai-inch in ldiameter maybe successfully fed.

The articles may be fed or placed on the table I at random and arebrought automatically by the rotation of the table into accumulatedrelation between the band 26 and the border 33 ready to be passedsingly, in close succession, to the conveyor 24. If by chance morearticles are fed `through the gap than can be taken by the conveyor 24,the surplus is carried round the table to join the accumulation ofarticles in front of the gap.

A table generally-similar to the one just described may also be used toreceive the articles after the required operation (filling, capping,labelling etc.) has been performed, such further table then serving toaccumulate the articles and yet keep them moving until they can eitherbe removed manually or fed forward to a conveyor.

What I claim is: v

1. A feed mechanism for generally cylindrical articles of the typeincluding a rotary table and an endless band having a run movable overthe table towards an outlet opening at the edge of the table, saidmechanism comprising a stationary and rigid raised border round thetablel the border being interrupted to provide the outlet, and a guidepulley arrangement spaced from the border to form a feed gap and todirect the endless band into its return run away from the border, saidguide pulley arrangement being disposed in advance of the outlet toprovide between itself and the outlet a path for the articles bounded onthe outside by the border and unconned on the inside to permit anyexcess of articles fed through the gap to leave the path forre-circulation round the table.

2. A feed mechanism as in claim 1, comprising a support for the guidepulley arrangement, and a radially-adjustable connection between thesupport and the guide pulley arrangement for adjustment of the width ofthe gap between the band and the rigid border.

3. A feed mechanism as in claim 1, comprising two pulleys in the guidepulley arrangement to provide a straight run of the endless band alongone side of the gap.

4. A feed mechanism as in claim 3, comprising a common pivot for the twoguide pulleys, links extending from the pivot to the guide pulley axes,and means for adjusting the links about the pivot.

5. A feed mechanism for generally cylindrical articles of the typeincluding a rotary table and an endless band having a run movable overthe table towards an outlet opening at the edge of the table, saidmechanism comprising a stationary and rigid raised border round thetable, the border being interrupted to provide the outlet, a guidepulley arrangement spaced from the border to form a feed gap and todirect the endless band into its return run away from the border, saidguide pulley arrangement being disposed in advance of the outlet toprovide between itself and the outlet a path for the articles bounded onthe o utside by the border and unconned on the ins1de to permit anyexcess of articles fed through the gap to leave the path forre-circulation round the table, a support for the guide pulleyarrangement, and an adjustable mounting for the support to enable thelength of the path between the gap and the outlet to be adjusted.

MORGAN FAIREST.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Numberh Name Date 1,464,511 Stott 1 Aug. 14, 1923 2,437,721 Barganz Mar. 16,1948 2,541,300 Silva Feb. 13, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country I Date418,855 Germany Sept. 23, 1925 109,097 Australia Nov. 23, 1939

